


What Does That Spell?

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 10:22:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: Jane's been secretly trying her hand at magic, and when attempting to give a demonstration, it completely backfires on her and she somehow ends up casting a love spell on Mal, who falls for Evie right then and there. Turns out that poor Evie has been hiding feelings for Mal for quite a while now, so imagine her distress when the object of her affections is suddenly in fake-love with her.





	What Does That Spell?

**Author's Note:**

> from anonymous prompts on tumblr

It was a somewhat familiar scene. Mal, stretched out on Evie's bed with her sketches, Evie herself at the sewing machine, and Jane lingering and loitering around the room. But she had been parked on the edge of Mal's bed with her back to them for far too long, not making a sound. Mal wasn't paying much attention and chalked up the strange flashes of light and color she thought she was seeing out of the corner of her eye to her imagination—maybe the sun glinting off a barrette in Jane's hair or something—but she kept seeing things more and more frequently, more glimpses of something just beyond her field of vision and all of them coming from the third occupant's general direction.  
  
"Jane, whatcha doing over there?" she warily asked, setting her pencil down.  
  
Evie's eyes, locked on her sewing, were drawn up and over to Jane at the sound of Mal's inquiry.  
  
Jane turned around, expressive eyes wide and looking suspiciously guilty as she saw both girls' gazes on her. Guilt faded into a smile, a shy smile, but a smile nonetheless.  
  
"Promise not to tell?" she asked.  
  
"...Oh boy, I've heard that one before," Evie sighed.  
  
"Depends on what there is to tell," Mal answered Jane, pushing her sketches aside and sitting up.  
  
After a moment's hesitation, Jane reached into her long sleeves and procured what was obviously a wand; plain, wooden, unassuming.  
  
"...I've been practicing magic," she said quietly, excitement beneath her hushed tone.

Mal's eyes lit up.  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Yeah!" Jane nodded.  
  
"But your mom is phasing out magic in Auradon, where did you even get a wand?" Evie asked.  
  
"Right here in the school basement! It was thrown in with a bunch of old things from her office, so I guess this must have been hers once upon a time, when  _she_ was just starting out with magic."  
  
Practicing magic and snatching a wand right out from everyone's noses.  
  
"Jane, sneaky...very nice," Mal approved with a mischievous smile, leaning forward in interest. "Show us something."  
  
"What??" Jane squeaked.  
  
"What?" Evie repeated.  
  
Mal looked to both of them before continuing.  
  
"Yeah, show us what you've got."  
  
She ignored Evie's frantic "Bad Idea" head shakes.  
  
"Like what?" Jane asked.  
  
Mal thought it over.  
  
"Something easy, just for a test run. Like a hair spell, the way I did on you," she glanced at Evie. "Turn my hair blue."  
  
"Blue?" Jane questioned.  
  
"Yeah, if a box from the store can do it, it's hardly magic, right? Easy peasy," she mimed waving a wand around. "Give it a whirl."  
  
Jane was hesitant, but clearly building her courage. With the wand gripped tight in her hand she stood up, eyebrows furrowing as she focused. Evie almost looked like she was about to cover her eyes and watch through her fingers as Jane cleared her throat and readied the wand.  
  
"Bibbidi bobbidi boo!" she said, waving the wand with a flourish.  
  
A white spark shot out right away, but Jane missed her mark, and instead of being aimed at Mal the magic ricocheted wildly all around the room with a loud crackle and a blinding light. From wall to wall it whizzed, bouncing off the floor, the ceiling, into Evie's lamp with a crash, and scattering Mal's sketches up into the air. The girls ducked their heads as the spark kept zooming past them, and with another few bounces off the walls it finally hit Mal, catching her right in the chest with enough force to knock her clean off the bed and onto the floor with a thud.  
  
"Mal!!" Jane and Evie cried out at the same time.  
  
Evie was up first, abandoning her sewing machine and rushing to the bedside where Mal had fallen.  
  
"Mal!! Are you okay??"  
  
Mal groaned sorely, but otherwise let Evie help sit her up with little complaint.  
  
"I'm good," she muttered.  
  
"Mal, I am  _so_ sorry!!" Jane squeaked, clutching the wand with both hands.  
  
Evie helped her onto her feet with an arm around her waist and a hand under her elbow.  
  
"Don't worry about it, I'm okay. Nothing happ–" Mal suddenly blinked like stars were clearing from her eyes as Evie stepped back and warily let her stand on her own. "... _Evie._ "  
  
Her best friend's name came out in a breathy whisper as their gazes met. Evie raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What?"  
  
The apparent stars that had just cleared were suddenly back in Mal's eyes.  
  
"You're so... _beautiful_ ," Mal grinned.  
  
"What??" Jane blurted from across the room.  
  
" _What??_ " Evie repeated her earlier word with a different inflection this time around.  
  
"Haven't I told you that?" Mal frowned, looking confused.  
  
"Must have slipped your mind. M, how about we sit down."  
  
Confused herself, Evie sat Mal on the bed.   
  
"Jane, what did you do??" Evie asked. "Obviously this isn't a hair spell!"  
  
She lifted a strand of still-purple hair for emphasis, which caused Mal to giggle rather girlishly.  
  
"I don't know what I did!" Jane fervently shook her head. "But, I mean, aside from being a little stunned, she seems fine!"  
  
Mal tilted her head back, looking up at Evie with a very un-Mal like smile.  
  
"I am now," she said, eyes sparkling. "I'll always be fine as long as you're here, E."  
  
Mal reached up, seeming to chase after Evie's hand, but Evie wouldn't let her have it, backing away with wide eyes as she finally understood. Oh, how she wished she didn't.  
  
"Did you cast a  _love spell_  on her??" she demanded of Jane.  
  
"What? No, there's no way! Love spells are way outside a beginner's level!"  
  
"Doesn't look like it to me!" Evie found herself getting oddly heated, oddly losing the cool she always kept as she gestured to Mal and her dopey heart-eyes.  
  
"Jane's right. I don't need a spell to tell you how much I lo—"  
  
Evie clamped a hand over Mal's mouth.  
  
"Don't say it," she urgently interrupted.  
  
Mal wrenched Evie's hand away.  
  
"Can I sing it?"  
  
"No singing either," Evie had her hand back in place once more, shutting Mal up. "Jane! How could you??"  
  
"I didn't mean to!"   
  
"I know you didn't mean to, but of all the things you could've accidentally done? It just  _had_  to be a love spell??"  
  
"...Well, what's the big deal about a love spell?" Jane timidly asked.  
  
Evie balked at her.  
  
"What's the big deal? The big deal is—! ...Oh, just nevermind."  
  
Head ducked down, Evie let go of Mal and stormed away, away from her best friend, past Jane, and out the door, letting it close loudly behind her as she went out into the hallway.  
  
"Evie!" Mal was on her feet in a flash, but Jane held out her hand to stop her.  
  
"No, Mal, just...stay," she said, tucking her wand within her sleeve and starting for the door as well.  
  
"But Evie!" Mal protested.  
  
"Evie wants you to stay right there and to not move, okay?" Jane had her hand on the doorknob.  
  
Slowly, Mal settled back down onto the edge of the bed.  
  
"...Anything for her," she said with a little smile.  
  
Jane didn't have anything to say to such weirdness, and simply shook her head before following after Evie. She found her just a short ways down the empty corridor, hidden in an alcove and apparently trying to get her senses back. Jane joined her, standing close beside her as the girl attempted to compose herself.  
  
"...Evie? Are you in love with Mal?" she quietly asked.  
  
Evie's eyes went wide and frightened as she looked at her.  
  
"...I don't know what I am with Mal," she whispered.  
  
"But you're something with her?"  
  
Evie looked like she would cry.  
  
"...But I'm something with her," she admitted, voice quivering. "It's just, on The Isle, Carlos and Jay and Mal were the first friends I ever had. But Mal was..."  
  
"Mal was always a little bit different," Jane said simply.  
  
"...How did you know?"  
  
Jane’s smile was shy.  
  
"My mom makes wishes come true. I know about these kinds of things. So...you have feelings for Mal."  
  
Evie nodded, staring down at the floor.  
  
"And having Mal act like she's in love with you is...not the easiest thing for you right now," Jane added, finally understanding Evie's reaction.  
  
"I was going to call it painfully excruciating, but we can go with yours too," Evie murmured.  
  
Jane fidgeted uneasily on her feet.  
  
"Evie, I'm so sorry, but I don't know how to reverse the spell. I don't even know how I cast it in the first place."  
  
Evie took a deep breath, still trying to finish gathering herself.  
  
"We'll just have to go to Fairy Godmother," she said.  
  
Now Jane's eyes were the ones that were wide and frightened.  
  
"No!  No no, she can't know I was messing around with magic," she shook her head wildly.  
  
"We can't just leave Mal like this!" Evie argued.  
  
"I know, I know, but..." Jane's thoughts raced, and then the lightbulb went off. "We'll go to Ben, he won't tell. He can help us."  
  
"...Alright. We'll go to Ben."   
  
They both nodded their agreement and warily started back for the dorm room, where Mal's face lit up something fierce when she laid eyes on Evie.  
  
"E!" she rose to her feet, crossing the room to meet Evie by the door and take her hands. "Are you okay?"  
  
"...I'm fine."  
  
The light in Mal's expression dimmed.  
  
"You don't sound fine," she noted, tilting her head like a confused puppy.  
  
Evie faked a big smile.  
  
"I am," she falsely assured her. "M, come on, let's go see what Ben's up to."  
  
"Together??" Mal squeezed her hands.  
  
"Yeah. Together."  
  
Mal firmly insisted on holding hands with Evie as the three of them left the room, and Evie reluctantly allowed it, trying to mentally block out the feeling of Mal's fingers twining around hers.  
  
"Where are we going to find Ben after school?" Evie asked.  
  
"He's probably going to be in his office, he spends more and more time there with his coronation coming up," Jane answered.  
  
"Okay then. Ben's office. First stop."  
  
Evie gestured for Jane to lead the way, which she did.   
  
Holding Mal's hand was certainly nothing new, but oh, how it suddenly felt  _very_  new. Despite it all being fake, the way Mal held on tight did things to Evie's heart, and she rather wished it didn't. But thankfully for her, the first stop was the only stop as Ben was indeed working in his royal office, and Evie didn't have to endure traipsing across the entire campus in search of the prince with Mal's hand in hers. Jane knocked on the door and listened for Ben's "It's open" before peeking her head inside and leading the other two into the room with her. Ben was at the desk with a big book of Auradon edicts in front of him, appearing to be studying hard and grateful for a break when the girls came in.  
  
"Hey guys," he smiled and stood up like a gentleman. "Mal, Evie, Jane. What's up?"  
  
Jane looked to Mal, who had her eyes on Evie and that incredibly dopey smile stuck on her face.  
  
"We...um...have a little problem," Jane said.  
  
She took the wand from her sleeve, timidly holding it up for everyone to see.  
  
"You see...I've been practicing magic, and somehow...accidentally...cast a love spell on Mal and now she's fallen for Evie," she blurted in one quick rush.  
  
Ben's jaw actually dropped.  
  
"I told you guys, I am not under a  _love spell_ , okay?" Mal rolled her eyes, absentmindedly brushing her fingers through Evie's hair while Evie groaned helplessly to herself. "You don't need magic to fall in love with this girl...she's magic all on her own."  
  
Ben needed a minute to process.  
  
"...Hoo boy," he eventually sighed, sitting back down and leaning forward in his chair.  
  
"Please don't tell my mom!" Jane hurriedly stuffed the wand within her sleeve again. "I just wanted to try my hand at magic, and it was supposed to be just a simple little spell but it  _totally_  backfired and we don't know who else to go to for help."   
  
"No, Jane, of course I won't tell your mom," Ben assured her. "Love spells generally...aren't a laughing matter. But this was an accident."  
  
"How do we fix this?" Evie stepped away from Mal and her absentminded fingers.  
  
"...Hey, Mal?" Jane suddenly said. "I just remembered...Evie left her phone way back in the dorm room. Think you could go get it for her?"  
  
The beaming smile was again very un-Mal, startlingly so, in point of fact.  
  
"Yeah, of course! Anything for—"  
  
"Anything for Evie, I know."  
  
Evie frowned as Mal all but ran from Ben's office, knowing darn good and well her cell phone sat in her jacket pocket.  
  
"What was that about?" she questioned.  
  
Jane let out a sigh of relief when Mal had gone.  
  
"Whether she thinks she's actually under a love spell or not, she's not going to sit idly by and listen to us talk about breaking one," she explained.  
  
"...You're right," Evie realized. "If she heard the counter-spell then she'd never let us go through with it...Ben, you  _do_ know some kind of counter-spell, don't you?"  
  
Ben laughed nervously as he stood up again from his chair.  
  
"I really don't know much about magic..." he shyly said.  
  
Evie gaped at him.  
  
"Your dad lived in a cursed castle with a talking candlestick!" she said.  
  
"Candelabra, actually, and that was him," Ben shrugged. "That's not me. I'm about as much an expert on magic as Jane here is. I don't know anything about spells, or counter-spells...but I do know about the Enchanted Lake."  
  
Both girls frowned, unfamiliar.  
  
"The Enchanted Lake?" Evie repeated.  
  
"It's one of the magical places here in Auradon still left untouched," Ben explained. "Its waters are supposed to cancel out the effects of any other magic, so get Mal in the lake, and the love spell should wash away."  
  
"Mal can't swim," Evie groaned. "No way is she getting in that lake."  
  
Jane slowly raised her hand.  
  
"...I have a not-so-great idea," she said.  
  
Ben and Evie looked to her.  
  
"I'm in no position to be picky right now," Evie told her.  
  
"Okay, well, Mal thinks she's in love with you. We need to get her to the Enchanted Lake—pretend to ask her out on a date."  
  
Evie's incredulous eyes looked at Jane like she'd just bibbidi bobbidi boo'd herself out of thin air.  
  
"Wait, that could work," Ben agreed. "The Enchanted Lake is a little ways away, I could arrange for a ride to take you there, you two could hang out for a while, and then you've got to get Mal into the water somehow. Act like you're going to teach her how to swim or something. The lake works its magic, and boom, the spell is over."  
  
Evie looked at Ben like  _he'd_  just bibbidi bobbidi boo'd himself out of thin air.  
  
"...You're right, Jane. This is a not-so-great idea," Evie turned and strutted off towards the picture window, willing her mind to kick into high gear and scrape together another plan.  
  
"Aside from going to my mom, we really don't have much of a choice," Jane insisted.  
  
"I can't just  _act_  like I'm on a date with Mal!" Evie threw her arms up in frustration.  
  
"Why not?" Ben questioned. "Evie, it's just so she doesn't get suspicious. It doesn't mean anything, it's not real."  
  
"It—" Evie whirled around, her face set with the look of something important, but cut herself off after that very first word with a heavy, defeated sigh. "...Yeah. It doesn't mean anything. You're right."  
  
Jane frowned sympathetically, knowing what Ben didn't.  
  
"Tomorrow's Saturday, there won't be class. I can set up that ride to the lake," the prince said.  
  
"...Tomorrow?" Evie repeated in disbelief. "You mean I have to spend the rest of the day with a love-spelled Mal??"  
  
"Just humor her," Ben said easily, not understanding the severity of the situation. "And keep her from wandering around campus like this, we don't want Fairy Godmother finding out what happened."  
  
"No, we don't," Jane agreed with a wild shake of her head.  
  
Evie's heart sank as she turned to gaze out the window at the forest beyond the office walls. She only half-listened as Jane and Ben made the plans without her, preferring to tune out as much of the conversation (and the entire day, in point of fact) as she could.  
  
When Mal returned with distraught eyes, crossing the room right to Evie and taking her hands, Evie felt like she'd been struck by lightning in all the worst ways.  
  
"E, I can't find your phone," Mal spoke as if the very world was ending over it.  
  
Evie let a pained sigh pass, very obviously avoiding Mal's eyes as she gathered herself together.  
  
"It's okay, Mal. Jane was mistaken, I had my phone on me the whole time."  
  
Gray clouds cleared from those distraught eyes of Mal's, and they shone once more before Evie.  
  
"Oh. Okay. I'm glad."  
  
Mal? Glad? Talk about magic.  
  
"Let's go back to our room," Evie said with grim finality, leaving Jane and Ben behind to lead the way with her hand clasped firmly in Mal's.  
  
She really wished the walk across campus would just pass by in silence, but the way her day was going, no such luck. She  _almost_  made it,  _almost_ returned to the dorm unscathed, but higher forces with very wicked senses of humor wouldn't let her go that easily.  
  
"...Evie? Did I do something wrong?"   
  
Oh, how Mal's voice was heartbreakingly small.  
  
"What do you mean?" Evie mumbled, keeping her eyes straight ahead as she walked.  
  
Mal tugged on her hand and pulled her to a stop in a small alcove hidden away from what little traffic was in the hallway, the very same alcove Jane had followed her to, as a matter of fact.  
  
"I mean you're acting strange around me," Mal shrugged sadly. "You won't even look at me. I don't...I don't know what I might have done wrong."  
  
Evie didn't think her heart could take much more of this tugging and yanking today.  
  
"...You haven't done anything wrong," Evie finally, reluctantly turned to look at her. "I'm just having an off day, that's all."  
  
Mal raised a hand, softly grazed a thumb across Evie's cheek.  
  
"...Can I make it better?" she asked.  
  
Evie shuddered away from her touch, only causing more hurt to flash across Mal's face, but then she bitterly, grudgingly remembered she was supposed to be playing along. What a painful day this was.  
  
"...Actually, yes, you can make it better. Mal, would you..."  
  
A painful, painful day indeed.  
  
"...Would you go on a date with me?"  
  
Mal's features were suddenly alight with joy, plain and simple.  
  
"Evie, of course! I'd love to!"  
  
A strange, strange, painful day.  
  
"...Okay. Tomorrow afternoon. You and me," Evie forced a smile.  
  
Mal's was genuine, or as genuine as a delirious love-spelled smile could be.  
  
"You and me."

* * *

 

So this was it, the execution of the not-so-great idea. Mal had already noted Evie's standoffishness the day before, so if there was any chance of fixing this now, Evie  _really_  had to play her part. Ben's word was good, and he did indeed have a car waiting that Saturday to drive the two away from Auradon Prep and to the woods that led to the Enchanted Lake. He even went the extra mile to play  _his_  part and threw in a picnic basket (much to Evie's chagrin; she had a sneaking suspicion Jane might have had a little something to do with that). And Ben had told her exactly which way to go to find the lake, the path through the forest couldn't be missed. Everything was going according to plan. All Evie had to do was play her part.  
  
So imagine her surprise when she found herself beginning to fall for her own game.  
  
"What about that one?" Mal pointed to a single flower growing at the base of a thick tree trunk.  
  
Evie followed with her eyes.  
  
"Mm...nope," she shook her head. "Too periwinkle."  
  
"It is  _not!_ " Mal's argument was made less harsh with a laugh, but she nevertheless kept up with Evie as they walked along the forest floor.  
  
"It's not my shade of blue," Evie went on with a little smile.  
  
"That's the entire point."  
  
Evie sighed, and relented with laughter.  
  
" _Fine_."  
  
Mal turned tail and hurried back to the tree, stooping over and carefully plucking the flower before returning to Evie's side. Evie stood still as Mal's touch tucked the stem behind her ear, putting the flower in her hair.  
  
"...There," Mal whispered.   
  
"How does it look?"  
  
"Perfect."  
  
Evie actually felt her cheeks turning pink as they continued walking, and as Mal not-so-slyly found the hand that wasn't carrying the picnic basket, Evie let her take it.  
  
The Enchanted Lake was so much more than either of them expected, with its lush green trees and crystal clear waters, tucked away within a little forest nook like a hidden gem. The crumbling rotunda of the pavilion was just dying for company, and that's exactly where Mal and Evie settled in for their lunch, making wonderful use of the inviting stone floor. Yet even with such magical beauty around them, dancing through the leaves and reflecting off the lake, Mal couldn't find her attention drawn away from Evie.  
  
"...You really planned something special for us, E," she said admirably a little while later after they'd eaten.  
  
Evie looked up from cutting the pie she hadn't baked in the picnic she hadn't packed.  
  
"What? ...It's nothing special, Mal. Really."  
  
"Yes it is. I mean, it's our first date, after all."  
  
Evie slowly moved a slice of pie onto a plate, and a second slice onto a second plate.  
  
"...I never thought we'd get any kind of date," she mumbled.  
  
Mal had no trouble hearing her.  
  
"Why not?" she chuckled. "Why wouldn't we date?"  
  
"Because the way I felt...I  _feel_  about you...I really don't know what it is I'm feeling, but I never imagined you'd feel it back. We're just friends, Mal."  
  
"We're friends. We're not _just_ friends," Mal said, lending a proud wiseness to her tone. "...I think you and I have always been a little bit more than that."  
  
Evie really was falling hard for her own game. Pretend to go on a date with Mal. Pretend to enjoy a date with Mal. Ruin everything by  _actually_  enjoying a date with Mal and burying herself deeper and deeper in a fake relationship that absolutely needed to fail.  
  
"And the way you feel about me..." Evie continued, trying to organize her thoughts mid-sentence.  
  
"I lov—"  
  
"Mal, please. Please don't say it."  
  
"But why not?"  
  
Evie closed her eyes and turned away.  
  
"Because I know better than to believe you."  
  
Evie didn't hear Mal move, but suddenly she was there, having gotten up to sit right next to her and lace her fingers through Evie's. Evie took a deep breath to prepare herself, then opened her eyes.  
  
"Okay, I won't say it...but can I have a chance to prove it?" Mal pleaded.  
  
Evie never knew Mal's touch could be so soft.  
  
"Let's go for a walk before dessert," she hurriedly stood up, ignoring Mal's words, Mal's touch, and changing the subject entirely.  
  
Although caught off guard by Evie's one moment of jumpiness, Mal nonetheless looked up at her and smiled easily.  
  
"Okay," she agreed. "That sounds nice."  
  
So Evie laid napkins over their slices of pie, and she and Mal disappeared into the forest again for a short walk. Mal's ready hand helped her over fallen logs, around rocks, under low-hanging tree branches, treating Evie as every bit the princess she was supposed to be. They were walking in silence, content to admire the mystical forest scenery, the thin streams of light that managed to fight through the thick green canopy and the flowers that bloomed in the beams like they were touched by magic.  
  
Magic.  
  
The only way Evie could ever get Mal to look at her as something more than just a best friend.  
  
"...You're sad again," Mal noted.  
  
"...No, I'm not," Evie denied.  
  
"E, I know you. I know that sparkle that's always in your eyes and I know how it dims whenever you're upset. And I can't help but feel like that sparkle only dims when you're around me..."  
  
Play the part, Evie. Play the part.  
  
"I'm okay, Mal. I  _promise_ ," she stopped and took Mal's hands, managing a smile. "And there's nothing you could do that would ever make me upset with you."  
  
For a moment or two they just stood there, hand in hand, looking deep into each other's eyes.  
  
"...Wait here," Mal eventually said.  
  
Evie blinked herself back into focus.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just..." in one quick motion, Mal leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "...Wait for me."  
  
Mal dropped Evie's hands and turned, scampering away in the opposite direction to disappear deep into the forest. Evie heard the sounds of branches snapping under Mal's feet getting fainter and fainter the further away she got, and then Mal had gone completely, leaving Evie alone.  
  
Slowly, almost robotically, Evie lifted a hand and touched it to her cheek, fingertips brushing gently over the spot where Mal had left her kiss. Her first kiss. And, if the afternoon went exactly the way it was supposed to, her last.  
  
Oh, this was torture, plain and simple. Evie and her feelings being played for fools by a bewitched best friend who just didn't know any better? Torture. Being the only one who saw the end of all this fast approaching on the horizon? Torture. This whole date in general, spending time like this with Mal, fingers lacing with fingers and forest strolls and kisses that left tingles sparking underneath Evie's reddened skin? Torture.  
  
But only in Auradon could torture feel so wonderful.  
  
 _"...A million thoughts in my head, should I let my heart keep listening? 'Cause up 'til now I've walked the line, nothing lost, but something missing. I can't decide, what's wrong, what's right. Which way should I go?"  
_  
Wherever Mal went. That's the answer that rang in Evie's heart, but not her head. She gazed longingly in the direction that Mal had run off in, and let her eyes fall closed.  
  
 _"If only I knew what my heart was telling me...don't know what I'm feeling, is this just a dream? Oh oh, yeah...if only I could read the signs in front of me, I could find a way to who I'm meant to be. Oh oh, if only...yeah..."_  
  
She let herself fall back against the sturdy trunk of a tree, right in the path of warm beams of sunlight as she leaned her head on the smooth bark.  
  
 _"Am I crazy? Maybe we could happen...yeah. Will you still be with me when the magic's all run out...?"_  
  
Of course not.  
  
No chance.  
  
Never.  
  
Evie's eyes opened, blinking back sunlight and blinking back tears.  
  
 _"If only I knew what my heart was telling me...don't know what I'm feeling, is this just a dream? Oh oh, if only...yeah. If only...yeah...if only...yeah. If only..."_  
  
Evie wiped her eyes with shaking hands.  
  
 _"If only..."_  
  
She didn't know when exactly she started to feel something for Mal. She didn't know just how strong that something was until Mal fell in fake love with her. She didn't know that it could hurt this bad, and she definitely didn't know what she had done to deserve this.  
  
Rustling of leaves and snapped branches again heralded the presence of Mal, and she returned to their spot in the forest to find Evie leaned back against the tree, face expressionless. Mal had a hand behind her back, and Evie's lingering Isle instincts immediately recognized the gesture as Mal hiding something.  
  
"What's that?" Evie asked right away.  
  
"...Promise not to laugh?" Mal smiled sheepishly.  
  
"I promise," Evie said, perhaps a little too quickly. Those lingering Isle instincts had her wary of someone hiding something behind their back, even if that someone was her Mal.  
  
So Mal procured her secret, a bouquet of little blue flowers with tiny yellow suns at their centers.  
  
"...M, are those—?"  
  
"Forget Me Nots," Mal answered. "So you don't forget this girl and how much she cares about you. You don't want me to say it, E, but I really want to prove it. Our first date, our fifth date, and every date after."  
  
Evie was  _so_  in over her head.  
  
The gesture wasn't sweet, or romantic; how could it be when Mal had absolutely no idea what she was doing? This wasn't Mal talking, it was the spell fogging her head, twisting her mind. Mal didn't really mean any of this.  
  
So why was Evie stepping forward and hugging her tight, ever so careful not to smush the flowers between them as her arms slipped around Mal and held her close?  
  
If only she had an answer.  
  
"They're so beautiful, Mal...thank you," she said.  
  
"...Not too corny?" Mal asked with a nervous laugh.  
  
"No. Not at all."  
  
Mal formally presented her with the bouquet when they separated, and Evie took the flowers in her own hand, the subtle fragrance of them greeting her in an instant.  
  
"And to think that you were the secret to bringing out my romantic side all along," Mal's smile was flustered as she found herself caught within Evie's earth brown eyes, sparkling once more.  
  
With a gentle nudge, Evie got them walking again.  
  
Everything was just as they'd left it when they returned to the Enchanted Lake, and they went right back to their picnic. Their slices of pie were waiting for them, and after getting comfortable on the floor of the pavilion again, the girls dug in. Mal, all the while she ate, was watching Evie. The two of them sat in a silence that—although easy and not awkward—Mal found herself just needing to break.  
  
"E?" Mal stared down at her plate, pushing a bit of pie around with her fork.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Something I never told you..." a smile curved Mal's lips for just a fraction of a second before disappearing. "One day, when I was a little kid, I was at home in the castle when I suddenly started to hear all this noise coming from outside. People talking, and shouting, music playing, laughter. Definitely not your typical Isle ambience, so I went out to the balcony to see what was going on. And it was really crowded down below, kind of chaotic even for me, but there was my answer...a birthday party. For a beautiful little girl with hair bluer than my best colored pencil and a laugh that seemed to drown out all the others."  
  
Evie's jaw dropped slightly, and she set her fork down on her plate.  
  
"...You saw me that day?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah," Mal nodded with a soft smile. "You always thought your first day at Dragon Hall was our first meeting, but I'd been dreaming of you for way longer than that.”   
  
"Mal, I..."  
  
The love spell may have warped Mal's emotions, but it couldn't warp her memories. She really  _had_ seen Evie back when they were six, back before the rivalry and the spite had taken over Mal's heart. Before she even knew her, Mal's first instinct was to adore her.  
  
No. It wasn't.  _That_ was the love spell talking. Evie shook herself out of it and realized that Mal didn't see a beautiful little girl down there at the party, all she saw was a little girl. And she didn't spend ten years dreaming of that little girl, she spent ten years dreaming of the day she'd get revenge on her for not being invited to her birthday party.  
  
But still, Evie played her part.  
  
"You waited a long time for me," she said.  
  
Mal laughed, looking suspiciously pink in the cheeks.  
  
"Yeah, well...you were worth every second."  
  
The most uncomfortable pressure was twisting inside Evie's chest, coiling tight like a snake.  
  
 _A million thoughts in my head, should I let my heart keep listening? I know it's time to say goodbye...so hard to let go..._  
  
Evie didn't know what to do or what to feel when the time came, but it came nonetheless.  
  
"The water looks so warm," Evie turned to gaze wistfully out across the lake, at the ripples on its surface and the rocks under the perfectly clear water. "Mal, let's go in."  
  
Mal's eyes registered just the slightest bit of surprise.  
  
"I'm good, Evie, but thanks."  
  
"Just here in the shallows, where you can stand. Come on, take your shoes off."  
  
"The cuffs of my jeans will get soaked."  
  
"The sun will have you dry in no time, M."  
  
Evie was already up, straightening out her skirt and slipping off her heels. Mal was looking up at her with all the wide-eyed innocence she never had as a child.  
  
"...Just in the shallows?" she cautiously prodded.  
  
"Only in the shallows. And I'll have you the entire time. I won't let you go."  
  
Evie stooped over and held out her hand to Mal, who hesitated for just a moment before taking the hand and letting herself be pulled to her feet. Mal pushed a shoe off with her opposite foot, then did the same to her other foot before kicking her legs back one at a time to get at her socks. Hand in hand they went to the rounded edge of the pavilion, where just a short step down the lake awaited.  
  
"You first," not out of fear, but out of what she thought was love did Mal help Evie down into the lake.  
  
The water  _was_ so wonderfully warm under the sun, it was almost like a soothing spa. Evie wiggled her toes around the pebbles under her feet, looking over her shoulder at Mal, who was about to step into the water herself.  
  
"...M, wait," Evie breathed, right as Mal lifted a foot to step down.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just...before you get in..."  
  
Evie moved back to the stone floor's edge, a gesture that gave Mal the impression she had something to say and made Mal lean over just the slightest to hear her properly.  
  
Except she didn't hear anything at all.  
  
Evie wasn't saying a word as she cupped Mal's cheeks and pressed a deep kiss to her lips, feeling the heat of an equally deep blush blooming beneath her fingertips.  
  
Mal wasn't saying a word either when it was over, much too soon for her liking. She couldn't find any words to say—blinking back the stars in her eyes—save for a couple that although small, still posed a challenge to get through her tingling lips.  
  
"...What was that for?" she asked, a little breathless.  
  
They may have pulled away, but Evie still had Mal's perfect face in her hands, warming her fingers with that blush.  
  
"So you don't forget  _this_  girl and how much she cares about _you_ ," Evie supplied, voice sounding suspiciously choked with tears.  
  
"...I could never forget that, E," Mal's promise was so very soft, a whisper of a breeze.  
  
Evie blinked back not stars, but tears, knowing that here and now, in the shallows of the Enchanted Lake, a promise that soft was just destined to crumble.  
  
"...The water is warm. Come in," Evie's touch slipped down to clasp Mal's hands and lightly tug her over.  
  
Her breath caught in her throat and everything seemed to move in slow motion as she watched Mal's feet finally dip in the water. Evie didn't know what it would be like as they sloshed through the shallows. Would the break in the spell be subtle? Obvious? Would Mal yank her hand free with a frantic look at her surroundings and a "what the heck??" in a fashion very typical of Mal? Or would the transition be smooth, simple, as in Mal simply letting her hand drop from Evie's and going about the rest of her day as if nothing had happened at all?  
  
"...You were right, the lake feels amazing," Mal squeezed Evie's hand and met her with a beaming smile.  
  
A dopey, very un-Mal like smile.  
  
"...What??" Evie gasped.  
  
"But no surprise there, right?" Mal laughed. "Of course you knew what you were talking about...thank you, E. Really. This first date...it means everything to me. Thank you for letting me have this chance."  
  
Gears spun wildly and thoughts whizzed madly through Evie's head; confusion and dread and more confusion and something suspiciously like some small bit of relief flooding her psyche just then.  
  
"...You're welcome, Mal," she frowned terribly, so incredibly lost. "...You're welcome."

* * *

 

Jane didn't have a chance to ask what in the heck was going on with her arm caught in Evie's viselike grip as she was tugged down the corridors, nor did she  _dare_ to ask what in the heck was going on. She was silent and sore all the way to Ben's office, where Evie threw the door open, all but threw Jane inside, and whirled around to make sure the door was shut tight before she let spill the secret.  
  
"Mal is still under a love spell!!" she blurted to a winded Jane and a dazed Ben sitting behind his desk with a pen in hand, mid-writing.  
  
"...Wait, what?" Ben shook his head.  
  
Through the picture window behind him was the setting sun, and a sky painted with reds and oranges that darkened to blues and blacks the further they got from the horizon.  
  
"I did everything you said. I went along with the 'date', I hung out with Mal so she wouldn't think something was off, and I got her to walk with me in the lake's shallows. In the middle of the water? Still love-spelled. Still looking at me like I'm the entire world rolled into one best friend."  
  
Jane dropped heavily into one of the office's armchairs, disbelieving.  
  
"...Maybe it was the shallows," she offered. "Maybe it wasn't enough to—"  
  
"No," Ben shook his head and stood up, putting his hands in the pockets of his slacks. "The waters of the Enchanted Lake are a very powerful magic, just a splash would've been enough to break a spell."  
  
"So  _why_ is Mal still like this?" Evie's voice was pleading, desperate for an answer that made sense.  
  
No one could give one.  
  
"You have to go to Fairy Godmother," Ben shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry Jane, but I don't think there's anything else to do now."  
  
"...Right," Jane sighed. "It's my fault that you're in this mess, and I might as well own up to it. Let's go, Evie."  
  
She stood back up, joining Evie at her side and walking with her to the door.  
  
"Good luck, you guys," Ben called out sympathetically.  
  
"...Thanks," Evie mumbled.  
  
Jane bravely faced the walk down the hallways and up the grand staircase to where her mother's office sat situated on the very top floor of the school. Fairy Godmother was rather the identical picture of Ben, behind the computer at her desk with the keyboard neatly moved aside so she could scribble a signature on some papers.  
  
"Girls, hello!" her smile was glowing as she glanced up at them.  
  
"Hello, Fairy Godmother..."  
  
"Hi mom," Jane stared down at her feet.  
  
Fairy Godmother noticed the fidgeting, the avoiding glances, the somber atmosphere.  
  
"...Oh dear, what's wrong?" she asked, putting her pen down.  
  
"Wrong?" Jane's head snapped up like a puppet on a string, nervous smiles and nervous laughter all around. "Who said there was anything wrong? We just—"  
  
She was interrupted by a gentle elbow from Evie, and her shoulders slumped.  
  
"...I messed up, mom. I've been...I've been practicing magic, behind your back."  
  
Fairy Godmother's jaw dropped.  
  
"Just a few simple spells here and there...I found a wand with some of your old things in the basement. I tried to show Mal and Evie yesterday, but the whole thing backfired, and there was this bright white spark flying around the room like a pinball, and then...I accidentally spelled Mal."  
  
"Jane! You didn't!" Fairy Godmother gasped.  
  
Evie stepped in then, taking some of the heat off Jane.  
  
"And now she thinks she's _in love_ with me," Evie fully voiced her exasperation. "We went to Ben first, he sent Mal and I to the Enchanted Lake, but the water there didn't—"  
  
"Ah, just a moment, Evie..." the headmistress lifted a hand, a puzzled frown furrowing her brow. "Jane dear, what did you say this magic looked like when it was cast?"  
  
"It was a spark of white light, it shot crazily all around the dorm room before finally hitting Mal," Jane dutifully explained.  
  
Fairy Godmother's eyes trailed back and forth from her daughter to Evie.  
  
"My dears, that's not the magic of a love spell, that’s a reveal spell," she said.  
  
"A what?" Evie raised an eyebrow.  
  
"A spell to bring out a person's innermost feelings and thoughts when they can't bring them out themselves."  
  
Jane gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth and lowering it only when she regained her ability to speak.  
  
" _Evie_ ," she began. "If Mal got hit with a reveal spell and started acting like she was in love with you..."  
  
"And if it wasn't a love spell that got washed away in the Enchanted Lake..." Evie added, once again back to gears spinning wildly and thoughts whizzing madly in her head.  
  
Oh, only in Auradon could torture feel so wonderful.  
  
"...I have to go," Evie was already spun on her heels and halfway out the door before she even spoke the words.  
  
Jane made a desperate attempt to follow, but was halted in her tracks by the clearing of a throat behind her.  
  
"Ah ah, not so fast. Sit, young lady," her mother sternly said.  
  
Suddenly magic was seeming more and more like the less messy option to Jane.  
  
Evie was so lost and so darn  _focused_  on what was going on in her own head that she didn't even remember urgently storming the Auradon Prep halls to get back to her room. To her, it was practically instantaneous, one blink and she was there. She almost knocked before remembering that it was her room, and darn it all, she shouldn't have to knock.  
  
When they'd returned from their "date" Evie had made an excuse to sneak away; not even realizing how easily Mal had let her go this time. And coming back to the dorm room once more, she found Mal on her feet, standing over the desk and admiring Evie's bouquet, sitting neatly in a vase of water from the Enchanted Lake.  
  
"...Mal," Evie spoke softly, as if Mal were asleep and she didn't want to be too harsh in waking her.  
  
Mal took her time in looking away from the flowers and towards Evie.  
  
"...Back already? And here I was trying to think of something witty to say," Mal laughed nervously.  
  
Evie leaned back against the bedroom door.  
  
"Something witty to say to what?" she asked.  
  
"E, come on. Cards on the table," Mal sighed. "I know I was spelled, okay?"  
  
"...When did you figure it out?"  
  
"When the spell was broken at the Enchanted Lake...it was sort of like waking up from a dream."  
  
"So you remember everything?"  
  
"Mhm," Mal nodded.  
  
Evie took a deep breath.  
  
"...It wasn't a love spell, Mal. It was—"  
  
"A reveal spell...I know that too," Mal stepped forward a bit, watching her feet.  
  
"A reveal spell," Evie repeated. "As in, when you were acting like you had feelings for me...you weren't exactly acting at all."  
  
"Okay, look, for one thing, that spell was  _way_  overdramatic. I mean, those stupid heart eyes and the silly smiles and running around a forest picking flowers, no way would I—"  
  
"Mal...please."  
  
Evie couldn't take any more of the dancing around it. She needed to know.  
  
"...Do you have feelings for me?" she desperately asked.  
  
For a long, horrifying moment, she didn't think Mal would answer at all.  
  
"...Several various feelings, actually. Like the one in my heart that makes it race, or the one in my chest that makes it all tight and hard to breathe...or the one that made my head spin when you kissed me this afternoon."  
  
"So after getting in the lake, when you said our date meant everything to you, when you said 'thank you for letting me have this chance'...that was one hundred percent Mal talking."  
  
Mal moved even closer.  
  
"It was."  
  
Evie's vision swam terribly as Mal approached her.  
  
"...And all my crazy, impossible dreams that maybe, just maybe, you could feel the same way that I did—"  
  
"Not so crazy and impossible," Mal shook her head.  
  
Evie was crying now, silent tears streaming down her face.  
  
"Mal..."  
  
"I'm sorry I never told you. I had no way of knowing you felt the same, and...I wasn't about to ruin our friendship for  _anything_. But when the spell wore off, and I remembered that kiss...I guess I had my answer."  
  
Evie sniffed, wiping her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry, M, I’m sorry for crying. This is just...I don't know, the best day of my life, maybe?" she laughed through her tears.  
  
Mal had moved close enough to pull her best friend in for a hug, which Evie gladly let herself fall into, wrapping her arms around Mal's shoulders.  
  
"Spell or no spell, there's one thing I absolutely meant," Mal said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're magic all on your own."  
  
That only made Evie hold her even closer.  
  
"...Okay, maybe there was something else I absolutely meant," Mal realized, keeping her arms around Evie but pulling back just enough to look her in those amazingly warm eyes of hers.  
  
"Something else?"  
  
"Something about first dates, and fifth dates, and every date after," Mal smiled.  
  
The particular smile that lit up Evie's face was something else entirely, the most beautiful thing Mal had ever seen, and Mal had just come back from a mystical lake hidden deep within a lush forest.  
  
"Mal..." Evie leaned forward and rested her head against her best friend's. "As much as I want to just stay here forever, and  _believe me_ , I want to, I think we have a certain amateur spellcaster to bail out."  
  
"And possibly thank?"  
  
"And  _definitely_  thank. Jane, a matchmaker, who would've guessed?" Evie giggled.  
  
Mal, no longer with anything to hide or anything to fear, nuzzled her nose against Evie's before softly kissing her cheek.  
  
"Who indeed."


End file.
